More than 10 years after a transgender woman was convicted in the second-degree murder of a Troy businessman, an appellate court’s decision on a sentence reduction has Michigan’s solicitor general arguing in the U.S. Supreme Court that her 20- to 40-year sentence should remain unchanged.

Vonlee Nicole Titlow — a 45-year-old born as a man but who identifies herself as a woman — in 2012 brought a her case to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, contending that her defense counsel, Frederick Toca, was ineffective during her trial process. The court’s opinion was that Titlow’s reduced sentence should be re-offered, or she should be released.

But Michigan solicitor general John Bursch on Oct. 8 disputed in Washington, D.C., that a decision by the appeals court that reversed the sentence was wrong.

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Michigan Attorney General Spokeswoman Joy Yearout, speaking on Bursch’s behalf, said the main flaw in Titlow’s argument is that she provided almost no evidence of Toca’s ineffectiveness — the crux of the state opinion Bursch has been fighting for.

“There is a glaring silence in the record about what Toca investigated, and what advice he gave Titlow,” Yearout said of Titlow’s second attorney of several. She added that Bursch conveyed he was confident Titlow’s second-degree murder conviction will be upheld.

“However, should Titlow prevail, the final outcome would still be up to the state trial court judge, who would determine whether a reduced sentence is appropriate,” she added. “We’ll consider any necessary appellate options only after the trial court judge has made a ruling — which will only be necessary if we do not prevail in the U.S. Supreme Court.”

A decision on the case remains at the court’s mercy.

A look back
Titlow’s travels through several Oakland County and Michigan courtrooms in these 10 years continues the tale of bribe money for a sex change, gambling problems, alcoholism and murder by suffocation.

The transsexual, who had received silicone injections to enhance her breasts before her incarceration, was accused of assisting her aunt, Billie Jean Rogers, in the killing of Billie Jean’s husband, Don.

The case took a turn when testimony of Titlow’s then-boyfriend — who recorded a conversation with Titlow regarding the night of the murder — revealed Titlow and Rogers found Rogers’ husband passed out and took turns pouring alcohol in his mouth. Then, Rogers held a pillow over her husband’s face until he suffocated.

Before his death, Rogers’ husband, a 74-year-old tool and dye shop owner who was believed to be worth millions, was said to have been upset with his wife because of several gambling debts she had amassed.

Testimony during the trial revealed that Titlow’s aunt had offered to pay her — at one point, as much as $100,000 — to help in the killing, and to keep quiet. Titlow was allegedly going to use the money for a sex change operation.

Titlow, who was convicted of second-degree murder in 2002 for her part in the killing of her uncle, originally pleaded guilty to a lesser manslaughter charge — which carried a 7- to 15-year prison sentence — in exchange for testimony against Rogers.

But while at the Oakland County Jail awaiting a sentence, Titlow decided hire a new attorney, then-Pontiac attorney Frederick Toca.

The agreement between the two was unorthodox — Titlow didn’t have enough money to pay extra legal fees, so Toca agreed to represent her in exchange for jewelry and media rights to her case.

Toca, now a Georgia-based paralegal, hadn’t seen the previous lawyer’s case files. But knowing that Titlow had maintained her innocence, passed a polygraph in the case, and that consensus among prosecutors was that Rogers was the mastermind, he tried negotiating for a lesser sentence for Titlow. When prosecutors rejected, Titlow withdrew her plea.

Because the arrangement with prosecutors fell through, and Titlow then didn’t testify in the case against her aunt, Rogers was acquitted. She died six months later.

Titlow’s legal representation changed hands again when she was unable to pay Toca, who eventually stepped away from the case. She was convicted, and sent to an all-male facility.

During her time in prison, Titlow sued Toca for $6 milllion in Oakland County Circuit Court, saying his “malfeasance” in representation cost her an extra 13 years in prison.

She has also been in contention with the Michigan Department of Corrections, and had claimed at one point that the organization showed deliberate indifference to her medical needs. The accusations were brought on after Titlow said prison guards and doctors ignored her requests to talk to a surgeon when she complained of pain in her breasts due to the previous silicone injections.

Most recently, the 45-year-old has been in and out of Michigan and federal appellate courts, arguing the case that Toca, who represented her only briefly, was ineffective because he hadn’t studied the case and had given her an ill-informed recommendation regarding her withdrawn plea deal.

Opening statements began last week in the Supreme Court, but there is no timeline for its justices to make a decision on the matter, said Yearout.

“It could be as quick as a few months or as late as June 30, 2014,” she added.

About the Author

John Turk covers the police beat and the Oakland County Board of Commissioners for The Oakland Press. He is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University. Reach the author at john.turk@oakpress.com
or follow John on Twitter: @jrturk.